Sending data to a notepad using processes

Question

I want to send every item from my listbox to a notepad,but my logic is kinda beating me.

private void send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var notepad =          


        

Answer 1

An another option you can find the Edit control of notepad using FindWindowEx and send a WM_SETTEXT message to it using SendMessage. This way you don't need to bring the notepad window to front.

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindowEx(IntPtr hwndParent, IntPtr hwndChildAfter,
    string lpszClass, string lpszWindow);
[DllImport("User32.dll")]
static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, int uMsg, IntPtr wParam, string lParam);
const int WM_SETTEXT = 0x000C;

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //Find notepad by its name, or use the instance which you opened yourself
    var notepad = Process.GetProcessesByName("notepad").FirstOrDefault();
    if(notepad!=null)
    {
        var edit = FindWindowEx(notepad.MainWindowHandle, IntPtr.Zero, "Edit", null);
        SendMessage(edit, WM_SETTEXT, IntPtr.Zero, "This is a Text!");
    }
}

Answer 2

You can do it with InputSimulator, Package Manage Console: Install-Package InputSimulator

 private void Button_Click_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
            {

                var notepad = Process.GetProcessesByName("Notepad").FirstOrDefault(p => p.MainWindowTitle == "Untitled - Notepad");
                if (notepad != null)
                {
                    if (IsIconic(notepad.MainWindowHandle))
                        ShowWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle, 9);

                    var input = new InputSimulator();
                    SetForegroundWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle);
                    foreach (var item in listBox1.Items)
                    {
                        input.Keyboard.TextEntry(item.ToString());
                        input.Keyboard.KeyPress(VirtualKeyCode.RETURN);

                    }
                }
            }

Answer 3

I have a sample test, it works if you change SendKeys.Send to SendKeys.SendWait

    List<string> data = new List<string>() { "Test", "hope", "It", "works","Or" };
    foreach (var item in data)
    {
        Clipboard.Clear();
        Clipboard.SetText(item);
        //SendKeys.Send("^V");
        //SendKeys.Send("{ENTER}");

        SendKeys.SendWait("^V");
        SendKeys.SendWait("{ENTER}");
    }

Because the key applied later than update Clipboard and loop, so that issue happend.

Answer 4

Better than using System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(); use await Task.Delay(); https://stackoverflow.com/a/20084603/6886308

Answer 5

From @GillBates suggestion I used System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(); and it seem to work great now.

private void send_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
 var notepad = Process.GetProcessesByName("Notepad").FirstOrDefault(p => p.MainWindowTitle == "Untitled - Notepad");

            if (notepad != null)
            {
                if (IsIconic(notepad.MainWindowHandle))
                    ShowWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle, 9);

                SetForegroundWindow(notepad.MainWindowHandle);
                string text = "";

                foreach (var item in listBox1.Items)
                {
                    text = item.ToString();
                    Clipboard.SetText(text);
                    SendKeys.Send("^V");
                    SendKeys.Send("{ENTER}");
                    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(150);
                }

            }
}